Lessons from the Past
by astronomygirl85
Summary: When Enigma's Hydra past comes back to bite her, she must learn to work with former enemies and learn some hard lessons in the process. Plus, her mystery mutant powers are growing. Sequel to "Enigma." Timeline: Captain America movie to Avengers movie.
1. Nightmare Knockouts

Hello everyone! I want to thank everyone who reviewed the first story in this series "Enigma." Please read that one first before this story. In this story, a little more of Marissa's past comes out. This story takes place in the _Captain America_ to _Avengers _timeframe. So, enough said, here is the first chapter of story two.

Oh yeah, the disclaimer. I own nothing that you recognize. Marvel is king of the domain and all that. So, sit back and enjoy the show!

Lessons from the Past

Chapter One

Nightmare Knockouts

_Marissa Hermann was a happy five year old child, content to play with her dolls as well as fire trucks and basketballs. Mutti said she was very smart for her age. She could already read and write before she entered kindergarten. Vati loved buying new books for her to read. Books about space and cars fascinated her. She wanted to fly in space one day._

"_Vati, can I have a space shuttle like the Amerikaneren fly?" she asked her father one day as she watched Space Shuttle _Columbia _launch from a wonderful place called Cape Canaveral_.

"_One day, Liebchen. One day," he replied with a smile. "But now, you need to pack for our trip to die Schweiz. Go help Mutti."_

"_Okay, Vati!" Marissa practically skipped to her room._

_Of course little Marissa's happiness could only last so long. Three days later, there was a horrible crash and fire everywhere in their car. Marissa cried out, but her parents would not listen. They did not move as Marissa tried to catch their attention._

"_Mutti! Vati! Help me! It's too hot!"_

_Marissa remembered a man smashing the window to get her out before she went to sleep, exhausted from all of the heat from the fire._

_Marissa sat on the floor of a strange house, still crying softly at the news of her parents' death in the crash. She was the only one left. She wanted her mom and dad so much, but she knew she couldn't see them anymore. They had gone to heaven with Grandmother._

_The strange man who rescued her entered the living room. He called himself Baron Zemo, and he wanted to take her to his place to teach her amazing things. It was a place called Hydra. He said her parents wanted him to take her if something bad were to happen to them._

_He was so nice to her, letting her have her time to mourn her parents and giving her anything she needed._

_She felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She turned to him._

"_Hello, Marissa. How are you feeling?" Baron Zemo asked her._

"_Still sad, Sir, but I know Mutti and Vati are in a better place now. They aren't hurting anymore."_

"_You are such a smart girl. Yes, I believe you will do well at Hydra. Your parents would be proud of you. Are you ready to come with me now?"_

_Marissa nodded, rising from the floor. "Yes." She took his hand. "What will I learn at Hydra?"_

"_So many things," Zemo replied. "Languages. Mathematics. Science. You will learn how to protect yourself and serve your country. Your skills and intelligence will be a great asset to our cause."_

_Several years later, Twelve year old Marissa stood in an empty room, a training room. She was ready for whatever her instructors threw at her from the control room. She had her weapons and her self defense training to back her up._

_Without warning, the room changed. Marissa was in a corridor in some strange alien base. She saw writing on the walls. English, she noted. She pulled her weapon, a Sig Sauer this time, and advanced forward, down the hallway. _

_She shot three men in American Army outfits before they even blinked. Now, the whole base would know she was there._

_Marissa was not worried. She could hide in plain sight. Who would think of a child as a threat? She hid her weapon in her shirt holster. She sat down next to one of the dead soldiers and feigned weakness and fear until another soldier found her._

"_He—he shot him. The bad man," she exclaimed in perfect English, forcing a few tears to fall. "I saw him. He went that way!" she pointed in the opposite direction._

"_Can you tell me what he looked like?"_

"_I didn't see his face. I just saw him shoot them. Please help me."_

_The ignorant soldier relayed the information over his walkie-talkie. He took her to a room down the hall from the bodies. "Stay here, kid. We'll get 'em."_

_Marissa gave him a frightened nod of her head. "Okay."_

_The Amerikaner nodded and left the room. Marissa dropped the act and looked around the room the Amerikaner left her in. A room with a computer in it._

_Big mistake._

_Marissa hacked the computer in seconds, burning through the firewall. She quickly found the layout of the military institute she was in and memorized the route to the explosive ordinance room. She could rig the lot to blow and escape before the Amerikaneren knew she was there._

_It only took her ten minutes to rig the power supply to explode. Marissa jumped into an air vent and stealthily made her way back into the room the soldier left her._

_The alert went out about the explosives. Marissa allowed herself a grin._

_The soldier returned. "We need to get out now! The building's about to blow."_

_Marissa dutifully followed the soldier to the outside of the building. She turned to the soldier with a smile. "Thanks for getting me out."_

"_No problem, kid."_

_She moved to hug him in gratitude, but at the last second, she pulled her Sig from her shirt and shot him in the chest._

"_Stupid Amerikaner," she sighed as she watched him die._

"_Hey kid! What happened? Why did you shoot him?" a man in a silly looking costume asked her. He was dressed in red, white, and blue. He had a round shield with similar colors and a star in the middle._

"_He is the enemy. He must die. So must you."_

"_Kid, you don't want to do this!"_

"_Hail Hydra!" Marissa shouted and took a shot at the man._

Marissa bolted awake covered in sweat. Nightmares from her past were keeping her awake again. She barely remembered that confrontation with the costumed man, but she remembered hating him beyond a shadow of a doubt.

_He is the ultimate enemy_, she could hear Baron Zemo and Red Skull drilling into her. _He must be destroyed._

Marissa never knew his name or where he came from. She just knew that he was Zemo and Red Skull's number one nemesis.

Marissa sighed and rose from her bed. It was only four in the morning. She couldn't go back to sleep. Only one thing she could do to forget about the past.

She found her workout clothes and made her way to the gym. She needed to work out her excess energy and anger the only way she knew how—fight it out.

The gym was empty as she made her way to the punching bags. She wrapped her hands and started punching.

_He is the ultimate enemy. _

Punch. Kick.

_He must be destroyed._

Punch. Punch. Crossover.

_Enemy. Destroy._

Kick. Kick.

Marissa envisioned Baron Zemo's face in the bag.

_My little Enigma is always a puzzle!_ A sinister laugh and a smile.

Smash in the face. Kick in the jaw.

Zemo's face changed. Red Skull caught a kick to the forehead. Slam! Another punch in the eye.

The scientists who brainwashed her.

The men who drilled her on languages night and day.

Her martial arts trainer who beat her until she snapped and fought back.

Every single one of Hydra's soldiers who ever worked with her met her fists and her feet.

The bomb that killed Tali David.

She punched and kicked, letting all of her anger at Hydra out. She was so focused on her task that she never heard the gym door open. She didn't hear the footsteps approaching. She never saw anyone walk up to her.

All she felt was a threat walking up to her. She took a swing—

And barely stopped herself as Natasha Romanoff came into view, snapping her out of her anger induced frenzy.

"Whoa! What was that about?" Natasha asked after a moment, coming out of a defensive stance.

"Nightmares from the past. Is that why you are up so early as well?" Marissa asked, breathing heavily from exertion.

"Да," she replied. "Red Room? You?"

"Zemo. Red Skull."

"No wonder we get along so well."

"Richtig." Marissa smiled. She was feeling better already. "I'll let you punch the hell out of the bag now. I'm heading to the track for a jog."

Natasha knew Marissa wasn't telling her the whole truth about her dreams, but she let it slide, knowing her friend would tell her when she was ready.

Natasha punched the bag for a while, then decided to work out on the mat. She took a few tumbling passes, letting the world slip away from her as she focused on her routine.

Back handspring, one twist in the air and back on her feet she went. One cartwheel and a full layout, back on her feet. Take a running start and somersault, handspring, handspring, drop on all fours for a push up. Pinwheel back up to a standing position and take off again.

She felt Clint Barton walk into the gym before she saw him. "Another bad dream?" Clint asked, watching her cartwheel over to him.

"Yes. I wasn't the only one. Marissa was in here earlier punching the hell out of a bag."

"I thought I heard someone running around the track on my way up here," Clint smirked, handing her a towel.

"Thanks," she took the towel gratefully. "Come to pester me about my dreams?"

"No, just checking up on you, Nat. Making sure you didn't kill anyone or yourself."

"I can take care of myself, Barton," Natasha growled,

"I know, Nat. I know you better than you think I do. I am your partner, in every sense of the word. I care about you. That's why I need to check on you, for my own sanity."

Natasha was still not quite used to someone caring for her so much as Clint did. She sighed but did not argue the point. "Okay."

Clint hugged her briefly. "Let's go join Marissa on the track. I could use a good run myself."


	2. Pack for the Cold

Welcome back to story two in my Enigma series. It's time for a little humor, and then the drama kicks into high gear.

Chapter Two:

Pack for the Cold

Marissa, Clint, and Natasha ate their breakfast together in the mess hall. Clint was a little surprised when Maria Hill, Director Fury's second in command, joined them at their table, a bowl of oatmeal in her hands.

"Agent Hill, good morning," Natasha greeted their colleague after a bite of her blueberry muffin.

Maria looked at the three of them a little suspiciously. "You three aren't planning another prank, are you?"

"Not today," Clint replied with a smile.

"I have no plans for a prank today," Marissa added, drinking her apple juice.

"Clint's trying to get us to talk about our bad dreams. Both of us conveniently had nightmares last night."

"We both decided to punch our enemies out of our systems," Marissa said darkly, stabbing her eggs.

"That always works for me," Hill nodded, blowing softly on her steaming oatmeal. "Anyway, Fury wants to see you, Agent Hermann, when you finish eating your breakfast."

"Okay."

"What did you do this time?" Clint asked looking over at his German friend.

"I did nothing this time. I am not always in trouble when I have to see Fury."

Clint snorted. Marissa had been with SHIELD for nearly three years, but she still had issues with the system or the other agents because of her HYDRA past. Clint still didn't know the details of Marissa's past, not all of it anyway, but he knew that Marissa was Baron Zemo's favorite assassin. She was a very private person when it came to her past, much like Natasha.

Clint believed that only Natasha and maybe Director Fury knew about her troubled past.

"I think he wants you to test SHIELD's computer security."

"Fun," Marissa smiled, downing the last of her apple juice. "I get to put my laptop through its paces."

"I don't think you'll get very far. Our systems are some of the most secure in the world," Agent Hill cautioned.

"The greater the challenge, the better I like it. If there is a loophole, I can find it."

Clint shook his head. "She hacked into my room in less time than Natasha did."

"On a dare from Nat," Marissa grinned. She looked at Agent Hill. "We snuck in while he was at the archery range and stole his I-Pod. We filled it with opera songs."

"I hate opera," Clint groaned.

"The best part was the look on your face when your I-Pod spouted Berlioz's _Carmen_ instead of AC/DC!" Natasha exclaimed.

Clint looked at her in horror.

"And then _Rigoletto!_" Marissa howled.

"Yeah, yeah, let's all have a laugh at my expense!" Clint mumbled.

"I would have loved to have seen that!" Agent Hill chuckled.

Marissa nodded. "It was priceless."

Clint groaned at the ladies' humor. He needed to think of a good way to get those two back for that prank. Maybe he could hide Marissa's katana…

Marissa glared at him suspiciously.

Okay, maybe not her katana, Clint acquiesced in his mind. _I'll think of something…_

Marissa walked into Director Fury's office, looking at an over ecstatic Phil Coulson.

Nick Fury acknowledged her arrival and looked at Coulson. "Are you absolutely positive it is his ship?"

"I saw it myself, Director. It matches the reports from the forties."

Fury looked at Coulson once more then at Marissa. "Change of plans. Agent Hermann, you will accompany Coulson to the Arctic Circle to examine the remains of a HYDRA vessel."

"A HYDRA vessel, Director? From the 1940s?" Marissa asked, thinking about what she had heard about HYDRA's activities during that timeframe.

"Yes, Agent. Right now I can't think of anyone better suited to analyze HYDRA tech than you. Any objections?"

"No, sir." Marissa said simply. "I seem to recall a story Red Skull told me once about a ship he built around that time. He had warheads that he intended to deploy on the East Coast of the United States."

"Sounds familiar," Coulson replied.

"Agent Coulson, Agent Hermann, you will leave in two hours. Pack for the cold."

Coulson and Marissa left Fury's office. Marissa knew she should be excited to recover technology from her former employers, but all she felt was a growing sense of dread about the mission.

She shook her head, trying to shake away the bad feeling. She was just nervous about being around all of the HYDRA technology again. She hoped so anyway.

Marissa strolled to her quarters to pack. She pulled out her coat and her cold weather uniform. She packed them in her SHIELD issued duffel bag. Next, she looked at her weapons. She immediately looked at her katana, her weapon of choice in most cases. It was doubtful she would need it on this mission, but it was a comforting presence in her hands. Maybe Agent Coulson would be willing to go a few rounds with her…

No, the katana would have to stay. It would stand out too much in the Arctic. She packed her two clips for her Glock and a few spare knives. Her Glock stayed at her side. She also hid a revolver on her right calf.

Finally, she hid a combat knife at her waist.

She slid her duffel bag closed and looked around for a moment in thought. She took her laptop bag and slid her computer inside. She also slid a book inside as well. Natasha and Clint would probably give her grief over the title, but she was hooked on _The X Files _for the moment. She was working on _Ground Zero_ at the moment. She wanted to watch the two movies when she finished the television series.

Satisfied that she had packed all that she needed, she walked out of her quarters and sought out Natasha. Her instincts told her to check out the gym.

She stepped inside and nearly laughed out loud.

Natasha was holding a wooded sword that suspiciously looked like a katana. Natasha noticed her presence immediately.

"Thought I'd try something new," Tasha admitted. "I always admired how effortlessly you handled your katana."

"Years of practice," Marissa replied. _And instructors torturing me even time I messed up._

"Care to give me a few pointers?"

"Maybe later. I'm heading out with Coulson to the Arctic," she said grimacing slightly.

Tasha winced in agreement. "I hate the cold, and I was born in Russia." She put the wooden sword away. "By the way, be prepared to have your ears talked off about Captain America. Coulson's a big fan."

Marissa took an involuntary step back. "Captain America?"

That sense of dread that had been forming in the back of her mind blared at her tenfold like a klaxon warning.

"Yes. He's very proud of his vintage Captain America trading cards."

Natasha was giving her a weird look. Marissa forced a smile on her face. "Thanks for the warning. I need to get to the airstrip. _Bis später_, Nat."

"See you later, Marissa."

Natasha wasn't completely fooled, Marissa could tell immediately. She knew that she would have some explaining to do when she returned from the Arctic.

She just wasn't certain that she was ready to explain everything to her best friend, now surrogate big sister.

She found Coulson in the hangar bay. "Eager to get this mission started?"

Marissa nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment.

"I wonder if this is the ship that Captain America sacrificed his life to bring down," Coulson speculated half to himself. He looked at her. "How much do you know about HYDRA technology at the time?"

Marissa thought about it for a moment. "Red Skull had an amazing energy source that he used to develop powerful weapons. Weapons so powerful that they could disintegrate human beings—like the phasers on _Star Trek_. For some mysterious reason, that technology disappeared when he did. He returned some forty years later, right about the time I was born. He never said what that energy source was or how he lost it."

"Interesting." Coulson looked at her appreciatively. "Well, let's get this over with."

Author's Note:

Hhm, interesting… A little bit of a cliffhanger, but enough to keep you on your toes? We'll see in the next chapter.


	3. Captain America

I know it has been awhile, but I have been extremely busy. Work, work and you guessed it, more work. I got more hours than I wanted at one job and not enough of what I really wanted to do—teach and write. Anyway, here is the next chapter!

Chapter Three

Captain America

The old HYDRA ship created a contrast to the white ice and snow around it. "Let's see what we have inside," Coulson said, rubbing his gloved hands together.

Marissa shook her head. Coulson was way too enthusiastic about the mission. She herself felt that dread-filled cloud get heavier in her head. She didn't think anything would come from this mission. She sighed heavily, watching as her breath froze in front of her.

"Can you get the access panel open?"

"It would probably be easier to hack through with a blow torch," Marissa quipped. "These systems are completely frozen. Literally."

"Let's bring on the heat then."

Three hours later, Marissa and Coulson stepped inside the huge HYDRA ship. Marissa keyed her communications device as she stepped forward towards the cockpit, where she could find valuable technology and information. Coulson headed towards what was left of the hangar bay.

Marissa pulled her coat tighter around herself. She felt the dread creep up at her again, but she pushed the thought away and set to work. She couldn't afford to be distracted right now.

The cockpit was an open area with the remains of a leather swivel chair that the pilot could use to check all of the systems. Marissa took a seat and looked around at the systems. She found the main computer core rather easily, but something else caught her attention. Some flashes of action took over, memories.

But not her memories.

_The plane was going down. There was nothing he could do about that. What he could do was set the plane down away from any populated areas. It would be his last service to his country, a last action._

_He looked down at the picture of her one last time, watching that picture until the plane hit the ice water. Water raced all around him, until all he knew was the chill._

_And then darkness claimed him._

Marissa jerked out of the memory. She was rather shaken about the whole experience, the fact that she had relived someone else's death, noble sacrifice it had been.

She pushed the disturbing thoughts out of her mind. She had to remove the computer core from the plane. She had to use a torch to melt away the ice around the cockpit readouts. She flinched when she found a photo that rested on the altimeter.

It was the photograph that the man had been looking at when he died. She picked up the photograph. It was a black white portrait of a pretty woman. There was no name on the back of it. She sat it back down on the altimeter and got to work extracting the core from the other meters.

"Coulson," she said into her comm. set, "I have found the main core. I'm working on extracting it now."

"Anything else we can use?" he asked.

"Everything else is pretty wrecked. I'll look into it later."

Removing the main core was time consuming work, but Marissa didn't mind. It took her mind off the increased feeling of dread that crept up at her again.

With a final yank, the core came loose. Marissa let out a grunt of shock as she went flying, landing on her rear next to the chair.

"Agent Hermann? Are you okay?" she heard Coulson over her comm. set as she rose from her position.

"Affirmative, Coulson. Just a little over exuberant extracting the core. I'll take a look around—"

She was halfway through a turn when a flash of color caught her attention. A closer look revealed it to be a man encased in ice. A man with a very familiar Stars' n' Stripes uniform.

"Coulson, get in here now! I found the pilot."

"Is it?"

"Affirmative, Coulson." That sense of dread was now forefront in her mind.

Along with a sense of hatred so strong for the man that she hadn't felt for years.

This man was the ultimate enemy.

Baron Zemo's enemy.

Red Skull's enemy.

And by relation, her enemy.

She had found Captain America.

Marissa felt like skewering the rest of the ship with her katana. At least he was dead. There was no way a human being could survive seventy years of hypothermia. She let loose a sigh of release though the hatred remained.

The flight back to New York was a blur to Marissa. All she could focus on was the intense hatred and shock that she had found America's most beloved hero of World War Two.

Phil Coulson remained silent as well, the shock and awe rendering him speechless. Marissa might have found that amusing if she wasn't so angry at the situation.

She tried to immerse herself in her novel, but that could not abate her anger at the situation. So, she sat in her seat and mulled over the situation.

Captain America was dead, so there was no reason for her to be angry. He was Baron Zemo and Red Skull's enemy. She joined SHIELD, so she shouldn't hate SHIELD's first real hero.

Yet, the training she had undergone all of those years ago against a foe with Captain America's attribute had seeded a rage deep inside of her that was hard to fight. And for reasons unknown yet to her, that hatred was growing.

_Forget it for now,_ she told herself. She found a semi-comfortable position in her chair and tried to sleep.

The nightmares started again.

"Why did I have to find him?" Marissa asked herself over and over as she paced around her quarters. _At least I have the minor satisfaction of knowing that he is dead_. _No way could he have survived seventy years in ice. If he survived the crash…_

She decided to sit down and finish her report to Director Fury. She decided to leave out that weird vision thingy she had of Captain America's last moments alive. She was still freaking out over the incident herself. Plus, she already had a weird stigma with the doctors because of that microorganism they found in her blood. She didn't need doctors getting in her head as well.

"I need to de-stress a little bit," she decided aloud to herself. She looked around her quarters and spotted her throwing knives. "That'll work."

Marissa strapped her throwing knives to her waist. She cast another glance around her room. She strapped her sidearm to her waist as well. She shot a look at her katana as well, still sheathed, positioned on her weapons stand. _Maybe later_.

Satisfied that she had enough, Marissa locked her quarters and walked towards the target practice range. She was lost in thought as she made the walk downstairs to the ranges. She nodded in greeting to several of her colleagues, wishing that Clint or Natasha were there to talk to her. Clint was in New Mexico along with Coulson. Natasha was god knows where with Tony Stark, the self absorbed playboy genius that moonlighted as the hero Iron Man.

Marissa snorted. _Hero indeed_.

She turned down another hallway and froze. She saw a familiar face that could not possibly be. She blinked several times and looked again. Yes, impossibly so, it was him.

"You're supposed to be dead," she said.

He looked at her in surprise.

Marissa moved on autopilot. She was barely aware of her actions as the old hate and anger seeped into her.

"My old boss lost forty years of his life because of you. Cut off one head and two more will take its place."

"Hydra?" he choked out incredulously.

Marissa's hand moved to one of her throwing knives. She knew that she shouldn't hate this man so much. This hatred was part of her old life. She was on the good side now. She shouldn't want to hurt this man she found in the ice. The man who shouldn't be alive.

So, why was she moving to throw a knife at Captain America? The rational part of her mind said this was all wrong.

The overriding instinctual part of her said this was an enemy.

In a split second, she yelled out "Hail Hydra!" and flung the knife right for his jugular.

The knife embedded itself in the hardwood wall one inch from Captain America's jugular vein.

"What the hell was that? Agent Hermann, have you lost your damn mind?" Director Fury demanded. How the hell did he get there so fast?

The rational part of her mind took over again. "What?" She assessed the situation around her.

She nearly killed a man. A man that was on her side—the one that she had saved from an icy coffin. What the hell _was _wrong with her?

She looked at Captain America again. The anger seeped into her being again. She wanted to kill him again. He needed to suffer.

The rational side of her mind fought back. No, he is a good guy. He doesn't deserve your hatred.

The warring parties in her mind ripped a searing pain in her head, causing Marissa to wobble slightly. She grabbed the wall to maintain balance, but the pain was too much. She grabbed her head and started swearing incoherently as she dropped to her knees.

She was vaguely aware of Director Fury and Captain America approaching her in concern, but she couldn't answer them. She couldn't hear them at all. Then, she couldn't see anything at all.

Author's Note:

Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt Enigma. She is in for a very important journey that you will read about in the next few chapters. I am determined to finish this story by the end of the year as a Christmas present to myself. Happy Holidays!


	4. Logic versus Instinct

So, after that bit of a cliffhanger I left you with in Chapter Three, here is the next chapter. I hope this is as interesting to you readers as it was for me to imagine this in my mind. Strange place, my mind is. (Cue the Yoda imitation)

Chapter Four

Logic versus Instinct

The first thing Marissa realized was that she was alone. The second thing was that she did not recognize the city. It definitely wasn't New York. She looked down at the stone walkway she stood in the middle of. She didn't recognize the stone, either. Where the hell was she?

She looked at the buildings around her. The buildings were alien to her. Marissa could not find anything at all familiar around her. That disturbed her. She was in a foreign city in a foreign country, and she didn't know where she was.

_Scheiβe_.

Marissa started walking, the rational part of her mind telling her to find someone who could tell her where she was.

She made two blocks inwards before she realized that she was completely alone in the city.

Okay, what was going on here?

Marissa kept walking, but still found no one.

She looked around her—

And rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting flattened by someone in a Hydra outfit.

_Great, just great. I'm all alone and my past comes back to bite me in the ass!_ Marissa thought bitterly as she landed on her feet.

Hydra woman wasted no time. She attacked, lunging straight at Marissa like a rabid animal, kicking and punching with an intensity Marissa could barely dodge and match.

Marissa threw her attacker off of her and watched as she got to her feet with a cat-like grace and deadly poise that was eerily familiar. The animal snarl that escaped her lips was also astoundingly familiar.

This wild woman was a perfect match to Marissa's skills. And she was fighting to kill.

Marissa braced herself for another assault, her body going on the defense again as Hydra Woman threw a powerful punch toward her left cheek. Marissa shied away enough that the punch only made a grazing blow.

The woman was shocked that Marissa had dodged the full force of her throw. Marissa took advantage of the situation and grabbed the woman, throwing her face first onto the cobblestone.

Marissa pinned the woman down so she was defenseless against her. "You can't win," Marissa hissed in her ear. "So quit while you're ahead."

"Such a stupid mentality," the woman snarled as she fought against Marissa's hold. "I'd rather die than be captured."

The woman turned to look at her face to face.

Marissa found herself staring at emerald green eyes identical to her own. It made sense now.

Fighting skills that matched hers tit for tat, grace and poise spot on, the identical eyes and the "rather die than be captured" line all screamed the same thing.

Those plus the old Hydra uniform she hadn't worn in nearly five years made her blood run cold.

Marissa tore the mask off her adversary and confirmed what she already knew.

She was fighting herself.

And she was in the middle of some weird dream.

Marissa let go of her doppelganger in shock.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Took you long enough to figure it out," her clone snarled, the same vehemence she remembered from her Hydra days. "And you are the rational, thinking one."

"What is rational or sane about any of this? This is some messed up coma I am in from trying to kill—"

Comprehension dawned on her again. "I tried to kill Captain America!" 

"No, that was me. Haven't you figured it out yet, O Rational One?"

Marissa stared at her evil twin, the earlier events replaying in her mind. The utter lack of people, the surprise attack from above, she was relying on logic and not her instincts.

Her instincts.

"We are two halves of the same person. Me, the rational, logic person. You are the instinctual, emotional person under the surface. You enjoy action."

"Give the girl a prize!" she answered, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"So when I—we—tried to kill Captain America, the two warring sides overloaded and sent us into a coma and this weird ass dream."

"Got it all figured out, don't you?" her twin quipped. "Riddle me this, how do we get out of this damn fantasy?"

"The answer is simple," a crisp English voice answered from the shadows. "You work together."

"Who the hell are you?" Both women exclaimed, going into identical defensive crouches.

A balding man in an expensive suit walked out of the shadows. "My name is Professor Charles Xavier. And yes, I am a real person outside of this vision."

"How the hell did you—?" Marissa's twin started.

"Know what you were thinking?" Xavier answered with an annoying grin. "I am a telepath."

"Why are you messing with my mind?" Marissa asked, curiosity winning out over the invasion of privacy.

"Get out of my mind!" the other snarled at the same time. Her twin could _only_ think about the invasion.

Xavier stumbled back with a subtle wince, as if her outburst had actually pained him a little. And was there a little bit of surprise there, too?

"This is exactly what I mean," he replied once he composed himself. "You have a very powerful mind, perhaps more powerful than you realize. Your two sides keep vying for dominance so often that you limit your capabilities. You need to work together to get out of this."

"A powerful mind?" Marissa asked in shock.

"What is so surprising about that?" her twin asked. "I saw that look earlier."

"As did I," Marissa echoed.

"Your mind is structured in a way I have never seen before. I know your mutation allows you to cloak your presence from others, but that is only a tiny amount of what you are capable of, if you work together."

Xavier looked calmly at Marissa's instinctual side. "You instinctively tried to push me out of your mind."

"I wanted you to go away. You invaded my privacy!" she answered.

"You're pushing again. I can feel it." Xavier then turned his gaze toward the rational side of Marissa. "You also felt the invasion, but curiosity about the unknown stopped you. That was why the mental control wasn't powerful enough to push me out completely."

"I wanted to know why you were here in my mind."

"Learn to work together, and you can get out of this." Without further advice, Xavier vanished, leaving both Enigmas stunned.

"That was a lot of help, Old Man," Instinct Enigma growled. "Now, what?"

"You heard him. We work together to get out of this nightmare."

"Okay, I'll go this way. You go that way." Then, Instinct stomped away from Logic.

Marissa sighed but walked away in the other direction.

About a mile into her trek, she noticed something was terribly wrong. She was getting a splitting headache. She felt like someone had taken an axe and tried to split her head in two. She had a fleeting thought of Hephaestus slicing Zeus' head open to free the goddess Athena.

The pain got worse and worse until Marissa was nearly on her knees. That image of Athena springing from Zeus' head popped into her mind again. Man, she had a splitting headache!

_Splitting headache_, Marissa thought with realization. That old man—Xavier—said they had to work together to get out of this dream, coma, whatever it was. _Physically _together.

Marissa turned around and crawled her way back to her instinctual twin. The pain started subsiding and Enigma knew she was doing the right thing.

Her doppelganger was sitting on a ledge, teeth gritted against the pain. Marissa smiled ruefully. "Hey, Twin. The pain going a little now?"

"I feel like someone took a damn sledgehammer to my temple," she muttered darkly, removing her hand from her temple. "What are you so happy about?"

"Xavier said we had to work together, right?"

"Yes."

"So when we went separate directions, we each got headaches the farther away we got from each other. Richtig?"

"I'm following you so far, Mister Spock," Instinct chimed in sarcastically.

Marissa glared at her lookalike for a second. "We moved closer and the pain goes away. The two sides of us were fighting again. We have to physically work together to get out of this. When do we work best together?"

"When we fight," Instinct said. "I thought that was obvious."

"So, we fight as one to get out. Understand?"

"Yes, I followed the philosophy train, Logic Brain, even though it felt like you made a stop past Crazy Town a minute ago. So, what do we do?"

Marissa looked around, deep in thought as usual. "Well, it is dark here. I can't see too well. Can you?"

Her twin shook her head.

"When you can't see, what do you need?"

"A source of light."

"This is our illusion so let's concentrate on light."

Both Enigmas instinctively joined hands and closed their eyes.

Warmth spread out from underneath them. Marissa opened her eyes to look downward for the cause.

"Don't," her instinct warned her. "Can't you feel it? It's working."

"It's so weird though. I want to know how it works!"

"Don't think about it, Dummkopf! Just feel it!"

Marissa nodded and stopped thinking for once, listening to her instincts. The warmth spread and spread. She vaguely felt pressure as her self realigned with the real world, her instincts merging with rationality and logic—

Marissa opened her eyes in surprise. She was whole again, and she was in the infirmary at SHIELD headquarters. The memories rushing back to her including that weird dream.

"About time you woke up, Sleeping Beauty," a vaguely familiar voice said from her left. "The docs were beginning to worry you'd stay in a coma forever."

Marissa turned her head a fraction to the left to take in the figure seated casually in the chair. She was about average stature with blonde hair and eyes constantly hidden by a pair of shades.

"I was beginning to wonder that myself. How did you wind up pulling babysitter duty, Bobbi?"

Barbara "Bobbi" Morse, aka Mockingbird, smiled slightly. "Nothing to it, Enigma. I just wanted to make sure my friend was okay. I heard about the debacle with Captain America. You know he's been in here a few times himself to check up on you."

Captain America checking up on her? Marissa barely stopped herself from groaning in disgust. "Great," was all she said instead as she moved herself into a sitting position.

"Fury had Professor Xavier come in when you wouldn't wake after the second day. He said you were doing battle with yourself, and that you would wake up when you were ready to."

"So I didn't imagine that. He talked to me when I was in that coma. He said I had a very powerful mind," Marissa said more to herself than to Bobbi.

"He left a message for you when you woke up. Which reminds me, I need to let the docs know that you're awake."

"Wonderful," Marissa deadpanned as Bobbi stepped out of her room.

Marissa looked up when the door opened again. At least her doctor was a familiar face.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Agent Hermann. You gave us quite a scare for a few days," Doctor Einzinger replied as she shone a light in Marissa's eyes.

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Seventy-two hours," Doctor Einzinger answered her as she made notes on her clipboard. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Ja, I tried to attack Captain America. Then I felt a pain in my head and collapsed. It was literally two sides of me fighting. I managed to sort it out while I was in a coma."

"Any lingering pain? Dizziness?"

"Nein, I feel fine except I'm hungry."

The good doctor asked a thousand more questions until she determined that Marissa was fit enough to be released. So, Marissa dressed and left for the mess hall with instructions to take it easy for a few days.

Bobbi was waiting for her when she left. "Doc gave you a clean bill of health?"

"After asking me a million questions and telling me to take it easy for a few days. I don't know how to relax. It's not in my nature."

"I suspected as much. No wonder you get along so well with Natasha and Clint. Clint used to go crazy every time he had a break in the action."

"I can't believe you still maintain your friendship with him after you two got divorced."

"It was a mutual agreement between the two of us. We just weren't meant to be together. Besides, I can tell that he's over the moon for Natasha anyway. They've been in love with each other for years. I just wish they'd finally realize it."

Marissa snorted. Bobbi was completely clueless about the relationship between Black Widow and Hawkeye that had started three years ago. It had been Marissa's first mission for SHIELD and the three of them went undercover to flush out a human trafficking and sex ring. Marissa had an uncanny ability to read people, and she could tell that they were in love with each other. She had been the one that gave them the push they needed to make that connection.

Speaking of uncanny abilities to read people, she snuck a glance at Bobbi. Confirmed, she was indeed clueless about them. Were she and Coulson the only ones who did know about Natasha and Clint?

Bobbi turned to her when they reached the mess hall. "How do you feel about taking on a group of rookies?"

"What do you mean?"

"Fury asked me to help train a bunch of rookies in armed combat. Care to lend a helping hand or katana?"

Marissa grinned. "You as good with that staff as you think you are?"

"Bring your katana and we'll see. My first session is at eleven hundred tomorrow."

"I look forward to it, Mockingbird."

"As do I, Enigma."

Author's Note:

So I hope that made one iota of sense to you. I know a lot of you Clint/Natasha shippers bear a lot of hostility for Mockingbird, but I'm not one of those. Don't worry, she won't be a key player in this story. Oh yeah, a little cameo from Professor X! Next chapter, the training session with Bobbi's rookies occurs. Until next time!


End file.
